Edmund Allenby

Edmund Allenby (23 April 1861-14 May 1936) was a British general who was a veteran of the Boer War and World War I.

Biography
A successful leader of cavalry during the Boer War, Edmund Allenby was given command of the BEF's cavalry in August 1914 and performed well in the early mobile battles. In 1915, he became an infantry commander in the trench warfare at the second Battle of Ypres and Loos, and was later promoted to head the Third Army. Known as "the Bull", Allenby was a brusque and irascible officer, diliked by his men and by Haig, his commander-in-chief. After the Third Army failed to make an impression at Arras in April 1917, he was transferred to Palestine.

Allenby reinvigorated the British and Commonwealth forces fighting the German-supported Turks around Gaza. Using mounted troops on horse and camel in outflanking maneuvers, he forced the Turks to abandon their defensive line without a frontal assault and took Jerusalem in December. His greatest victory was at Megiddo in September 1918. Using a lightning artillery barrage and aircraft in a ground-attack role, he punched a hole in Turkish defenses north of Jerusalem through which infantry and cavalry poured. The routed Turks surrendered at the end of October.